The embodiments described herein relate generally to packaging products and, more specifically, to methods and systems for forming a polygonal container from a knocked-down flat container made from cardboard, corrugated paperboard, or other similar sheet material.
Containers are frequently utilized to store and aid in transporting products. These containers can be square, hexagonal, or octagonal. The shape of the container can provide additional strength to the container and can provide a more secure fit of the product contained within the container. For example, an octagonal-shaped container oftentimes provides greater stacking strength and greater resistance to bulge over conventional rectangular or square containers.
Product manufacturers and packaging companies commonly utilize containers in a knocked-down flat state when shipping the containers to the product manufacturers and when storing the containers at the product manufacturer's before loading the containers with the product to be shipped. Knocked-down flats are formed from a blank of sheet material and can be erected to form a container for packaging and shipping. In at least some known cases, such knocked-down flats are erected at the manufacturer of the product to be shipped using a case erector machine that individually erects each knocked-down flat from a stack of knocked-down flats. This process of erecting a shipping container from a knocked-down flat at a location where the shipping container is then loaded with the product for shipment is typically efficient, but is typically only used for forming shipping containers having a rectangular shape.
However, rectangular shaped containers are oftentimes not suitable for a packaging application. Specifically, the item to be packed and shipped may not be rectangular and, therefore, a rectangular shaped package may lack the desired space efficiency. Furthermore, a rectangular shaped package may lack sufficient strength for stacking or bulge resistance. In these types of packaging applications, a shipping container having a non-rectangular configuration is better suited. For example, packages having an octagonal shape including angled corner panels may be required for space efficiency, stacking strength and/or bulge resistance. However, many known methods and systems for erecting shipping containers from a knocked-down flat are insufficient for forming an octagonal container. Moreover, the known methods and systems capable of forming an octagonal container typically include more complicated machinery and, therefore, are more expensive to employ and more complicated to operate.